Obama sending out volunteers for his budget

President Obama has recorded a four-minute video calling on millions of his supporters to go out this weekend and collect signatures from their neighbors in support of his $3.6 trillion budget.

“I’m asking you to head outside this Saturday to knock on some doors, talk to some neighbors, and let people know how important this budget is to our future,” Obama says in the video, which was sent out Wednesday morning by David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s presidential campaign and now runs Organizing for America.

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While the weekend organizing will collect signatures for Obama’s budget, it will also serve as a way to add even more information to OFA’s already massive database of e-mails, cell phone numbers and home addresses.

This is evidenced by the six-minute training video, in which Jeremy Bird, OFA’s deputy director, gives Obama supporters detailed instructions on how to push their neighbors to sign a pledge supporting Obama’s budget, and how to obtain as much information about them as possible.

“Make the hard ask and secure their signature,” Bird says, speaking in an empty studio backlit by production lights. “It’s important to ask, ‘Will you sign the pledge to show your support for the president’s plan?’

“And make sure that you get their information,” he then says. “Make sure their information is complete and legible. Quickly review their pledge card to make sure they’ve filled out all parts, and that you can read their handwriting.

“If the person has not included their e-mail address, or other important information, ask them to fill it in,” Bird says, adding that OFA won’t share the information with anyone but will use it to “update them” on political and organizing events.

At the end of the video, Bird instructs volunteers on how to enter the pledge signee’s information into the OFA database online, calling this “one of the most important parts of the day.”